​FLYING INSTRUCTOR
 
Don’t be downhearted.
Don’t lose hope.
Don’t give up.
 
You’re doing good.
You’re amazing.
You’re a star.
 
I know you don’t feel like this now.
I know you’re weary.
I know you’re nearly spent.
 
But I will lift you.
I will help you run.
I will help you fly.
 
That’s why I am here.
We go together,
forever and ever.
 
So trust in me.
Let it all be.
Let us fly together.

 BORDER CONTROL

The Syrian family that drowned
in the English Channel,
preoccupies my mind.
 
Seeking a better life,
young lives were lost
in a world of borders.
 
Adrift in freezing water,
a family fought, and lost,
their desperate scramble.
 
This is the ultimate price
that others pay for our
inability to help.
 
We create boundaries
not just by country,
but in our personal world.
 
We can look at the TV
and think how bad this is,
​safe within our borders.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1.    Kurdish-Iranian Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35,   Anita, nine, and Armin, six, and    fifteen-month-old Artin all died.    The family is believed to be from the city of Sardasht in western Iran, close to the border with Iraq.   Let  us think of them now.

​ 
APPRENTICESHIP

People used to look to
religious bodies for spiritual guidance
and the path to salvation.
Nowadays, many of us work
to find our own path in life,
and our own way.
 
For we know that there is
no one way and no one map.
There are different maps
and so many ways.
We can each find a path
that works for us.
 
Our path will be like no one else’s.
It will be like no other.
We will learn and do
what works for us.
And that is exactly,
how it is meant to be.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1.  What   journey   are you on?
2. How would you describe    your path   or your way - so far?

​QUIET  ROOM
 
There are two types of prayer.
Busy prayer and Quiet prayer.
 
Busy prayer is doing, helping,
sharing, listening, encouraging,
supporting, fixing, joining,
and much, much more.
 
Quiet prayer is beyond silence,
beyond thought,
beyond all that we know
and all that we are.
 
Busy prayer will one day disappear
but Quiet prayer
will open for us a doorway
that we already know.
 
It makes sense to get to know
Quiet Prayer by learning to be silent,
to go beyond all thought
and explore all that we are.
 
For here we will find that doorway
to whom we will become,
to God, to love and
to all that is.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1.  Tell me about your Busy  prayer today.
2. Tell me about your Quiet prayer today.

.
​COLLABORATIVE WORKING
 
Let’s sort it out.
Let’s get going.
Let’s not wait for others.
Let’s join together.
Let’s start the ball rolling.
 
This is our task.
This is our piece.
This is our love.
This is what we are about.
And this is who we are.
 
Let’s press the button.
Let’s change things.
Let’s lend a hand.
Let’s share what we know.
Let’s give what we have.
 
This is our task.
This is our piece.
This is our love.
This is what we are about.
And this is who we are.

OUTLOOK 

​​It’s just so great to sit here
and not have to think about work,
​or all the tasks I need to do.
There are still there of course,
but in these moments
there is nothing to do.
 
There is no clamour, no burden
no pressure and no stress.
In these moments,
I can just sit here in a gentle way,
looking in a different way,
in a different direction.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1.  What is  your outlook  on life at the moment? 

INBOX
 
Every day
holds a message
for you.
 
It will come
in what
someone says.
 
It will come
in the words
you read.
 
It will come
in a video
on your phone.
 
It will come
in a thought
from heaven.
 
It will come
from deep within
your soul.
 
It will come
from those
who love you.
 
It will come
from those who have left
and are still with you.
 
It will come
in the breeze
and in the sunshine.
 
It will come
in her smile
and his gentle laugh.
 
It will come
when they hold your hand
and says it’s okay.
 
Every day
holds a message
for you.

​SPACE  EXPLORATION 
 
There is a world I can enter
which is not of this world.
It is not about my work,
or my family, or my health,
or my age, or my journey.
 
This is a world I cannot see
or touch or even feel.
It is simply a space that sits
with a door
and is always there.
 
But I am so busy
doing so many things and
getting on with my life.
 
But today I stand looking
into this space.
I put the words around this
and I try to describe for you
what cannot be described.
 
For there is nothing to see.
There is nothing to feel.
There is nothing to know.
There is just an awareness,
of otherness,
of separation,
from all that I am and know.
 
And yet, I am part of the space.
I am in the space.
I am this space.

ENTERPRISE   DEVELOPMENT
 
Sometimes you start something,
with a sense of optimism and belief.
It’s part of your great plan.
 
Others are enthusiastic
and encourage you.
You are on a roll.

After a while, it gets tougher,
others lose interest,
but you keep going.

And then, there comes a time,
when others say maybe you should stop,
Or, that it is not working.

 They question your judgement,
and what you’re doing.
But you keep going.
 
And then you struggle.
It’s just tough
to keep going.

For the energy
that started this enterprise,
has virtually dissipated.
 
And yet,
some reserves kick in
and you muddle on.

You feel it is part of something
that is worth sustaining,
no matter what others say.
 
For maybe,
the enterprise is
about   more than the effort.

​about more than the output,
and about more than you
can ever imagine.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 
​1. What have you started  as part of your great plan?
2.   Read 'Enterprise Development" every time you  stumble and then keep going, no matter what.  ​

SORTING CENTRE

Life doesn’t come in
ready-made boxes.
Everything is not sorted for us
like a ready meal.

No, bits and pieces arrive
as demands are made,
responsibilities press on us and
work need to be done.

And alongside all of this
we have our own personal thoughts,
our hopes and worries, and
our memories and disappointments.

Yes, life comes at us
in a real mixed up way.
And our task is to sort this
and try and make sense of it.

So when people say to me
'Are your writings religious?' or
'Are they about business and work,
or about personal development?'

 'Are they about spirituality,
or more about love and kindness?'
I think that they are really
asking the question of themselves.

In which box do I put this?
Please place it anywhere, if it helps you.
I don’t mind, for I’m just passing on
the mixed-up thoughts as they come.